I stumbled across the new BBC series Sherlock by accident. Frankly, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about it earlier. Both Maria and I are huge Sherlock Holmes fans, and huge mystery fans in general, but somehow this slipped passed our radar.
For as long as there have been moving pictures, there have been adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Some have been brilliant. Some have been otherwise. Some have depicted Holmes as rather tame and mild-mannered. Others, like Guy Ritchie’s interpretation, have picked up on Holmes’ lesser savoury habits and tendencies. But the BBC’s Sherlock depicts the famous detective, and his affable partner, in an entirely new way.
Sherlock is an adaptation of the classic Holmes franchise set in modern-day London.
Of course, upon first hearing the premise—a modern day adaptation of Sherlock Holmes—you might scoff, I know I did, but after giving it a chance I found that I would be more than rebuffed. This series, in fact, is brilliant.
Now the key to pulling off a good Sherlock series, of course, is hitting upon a good Sherlock Holmes. Fail to find a good Sherlock and the show will never get off the ground Fortunately, BBC have done an incredible job in casting Benedict Cumberbatch as the famous detective. Their Sherlock is young and modern. A recluse with no time for social niceties and driven, as a good Sherlock should be, to peculiar behaviour. He is sharp-spoken and quick-witted and has head just far enough in the clouds to remain pretty oblivious to all but the facts crucial to his cases. His partner in crime, so to speak, is Dr. John Watson, a very likeable and kind former Army doctor, in this case played by Martin Freeman (Tim from BBC’s “The Office”). Never was there a better casting for the role, I would argue, as Freeman excels at playing characters who are happy-go-lucky, yet resourceful under pressure.
Of course, as important as the casting of Sherlock and Watson is the chemistry between the two. In this case, I dare say, it may be the best I’ve seen.
Remember, this is modern-day London, with all its quirks and charm and in the middle of it all are two young, single men running around solving crimes. Throughout the first episode the two are the butt of many a gay joke and raised eyebrow—the always ambiguous Sherlock and the comedic straight-man Watson play it up well. More over, Watson’s amazement at Sherlock’s brain-boggling deductive detecting makes for much humour. As Sherlock, with grandiose dramatics, deduces all kinds of evidence from around his environment Watson can’t contain his admiration. The two play off each other so well.
The stories themselves, only loosely adapted from the original Sherlock Holmes (as far as I can tell), are great as well.
Sherlock has a very modern feel to it. There’s lots of text-messaging—it’s London, of course—and e-mail and hopping in cabs and it’s all pretty fast-paced which makes sense, the original Sherlock Holmes were short stories after all. Like all good detective/mystery television, Sherlock keeps you guessing until the end and, in the case of A Study in Pink, the pay off is pretty great.
But Sherlock is truly the complete package, which is why I’m thoroughly impressed so far. In addition to great characters and great stories the overall direction of the series is pitch perfect.
The sets are beautiful. In Episode 1, we find ourselves whirling around London which, in and of itself, is an awesome experience for someone unfamiliar with the terrain. The cinematography too is bold and daring, which is very refreshing in a television series. High-action scenes are amped up with wild camera work while intense face-to-face showdowns are emphasized with tight and interesting angles. It’s obvious that every aspect of the show’s direction is tightly and intentionally controlled, to great results.
All in all, Sherlock is an outstanding effort. With only three episodes in the first season, I’m pleased that the BBC has announced (only three days ago) that it’s being renewed for a second run. If you’re a grizzled veteran of the Holmes series, I think you’ll really enjoy Sherlock. It’s funny and quirky at the same time as it’s dark and sharp. If you’re new to Sherlock Holmes, or maybe you’ve only seen the recent Guy Ritchie interpretation, Sherlock is probably an excellent starting point. It’s modern in all aspects and, I imagine, is much more appealing than the stuffy adaptations from the 80′s and 90′s (leave those to us hardcore fans).
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